$1.7 Billion Domed Stadium Expected To Be Completed By 2020

NFL team owners voted to approve the Raiders’ proposal to relocate to Las Vegas during the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix on Monday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. (NFL Image)

(NFL) –NFL team owners voted to approve the Raiders’ proposal to relocate to Las Vegas during the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix on Monday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.

The final tally to approve the move was 31-1, Rapoport added.

The Raiders won’t immediately move to Las Vegas since construction of their planned $1.7 billion domed stadium isn’t expected to be completed until 2020. They will play this season at the Oakland Coliseum and have a contract option to play there again in 2018. After that, they likely will have to find a temporary venue to play in until their new stadium just off the Las Vegas strip is built.

Once they move, it will mark the franchise’s third relocation since its inception in 1960.

The decision by NFL ownership is the culmination of years of efforts by the Raiders to find a viable stadium solution — continuously in Oakland, then in Los Angeles before eventually agreeing to participate in a partially publicly financed stadium project in Las Vegas.

On Friday, Oakland and Alameda County officials made an 11th-hour effort to persuade NFL owners that they indeed had a feasible stadium plan for the Raiders. In a letter to the league, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf outlined a proposal for a $1.3 billion stadium plan in Oakland that would include public financing.

Responding to Schaaf, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter that the plan “does not present a proposal that is clear and specific, actionable in a reasonable time frame, and free of major contingencies.” He added: “All of these efforts, ours and yours, have not yet identified a viable solution” toward keeping the Raiders in Oakland.

It marks the third NFL team relocation in less than 14 months. The Rams moved from St. Louis back to Los Angeles last year and the Chargers announced their decision to move from San Diego to L.A. in January.

After no viable stadium solutions could be negotiated in Oakland, Las Vegas emerged as the Raiders’ strongest potential destination after Nevada lawmakers approved $750 million in public funding for a new stadium.

The Raiders and the NFL will provide $500 million toward stadium construction and Bank of America will contribute additional funding.